DPLM Faculty Profiles — Dr. Gulley

Margaret L. Gulley, MD

Professor

Office: 919-843-4595

Research Interests

We study the role of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in malignancies including lymphoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma and gastric cancer. Molecular and immunologic techniques are used to evaluate EBV gene expression, to localize viral products to lesional tissue, and to evaluate interactions between EBV and cellular gene products. Gene expression profiling is explored to categorize lesions in a way that facilitates diagnosis and management of affected patients. Tests used to assist in classification and monitoring of EBV-related malignancies include EBV viral load assays to monitor tumor burden in blood and cerebrospinal fluid, EBER in situ hybridization and other histochemical methods to detect and localize EBV in paraffin embedded tissues or cytologic specimens, and next generation sequencing to detect viral genes and gene products in concert with somatic variants in tumor tissue. A related focus of clinical research is on use of genomic technology in diagnostic pathology, with the aim of improving diagnosis and treatment of patients with cancer, inherited disease, and infectious disease.

Unique Technical and Clinical Research Capabilities/Instrumentation: Facilities are available for DNA or RNA extraction and storage; Southern blot, real-time PCR and rtPCR, and in situ hybridization, targeting a wide variety of clinically-relevant human genes or infectious agents.